Seasonal delights

Yesterday’s snowfall at nearby Crater Lake, together with the rapidly shortening days, reminds us that the grass is about to stop growing, breeding season is upon us, and it is time to prepare for feeding hay and the beginning of the rainy season — all closely related events. Preparations for breeding are pretty routine by […]

For Soay sheep and their shepherds, summer is an easy, laid-back season. All the sheep are feasting on grass, so there is no hay to tote. Moving the animals from one area to another to keep them rotating through the pastures is a welcome task, since we get to be with our Soay flock and […]

Not quite, but we know it won’t be long, because our Soay rams are calming down and everyone’s horns — ewes and rams alike — have started growing again. We put our breeding groups together later this year so we are just now thinking about returning the rams to the Bull Pen. I must say it’s […]

When last we met to discuss signs of spring, the topic was chicken eggs. It’s about time to re-direct attention to Soay sheep, don’t you think? Every year along about January or early February, our previous spring’s ram lambs — what I refer to loosely as our “yearlings” — begin an impressive growth spurt which by the end of summer will take them nearly […]

As regular readers of this blog have learned, I am crazy about Soay sheep and so is Steve. Both of us are prepared to ascribe all sorts of wondrous attributes and talents to them, justified or not. However, Soay are no good at all in predicting the approach of spring. Try as we might, we have […]